Oh, this is so sweet and poignant! Achilles' portrayal is beautiful, seen from the eyes of Patroclus.

I agree with Rah-la, though the implications of placing honor over victory - even life is not totally expempt from this wonderful piece; especially when Patroclus thinks his sentiment about growing old with him is untrue ( By the way, I love how you stated that however false those sentiments were - Achilles himself belived them in his passion. Again amazing characterization!) Achilles chose to die for that ultimate honor and glory.

I love this bit: "If Achilles cries, then tears are for the brave," OH, that was just so cool! LOL

This is going in my favs. Hope to see more Homer, or Greek Myth stories from you! You writing is superb.

Lady Taliesin chapter 1 . 10/12/2008

I'm reading The Iliad right now, and Patroclus is about to die...This is exactly what I needed :)

Whoo! I've been meaning to look for Achilles/Patroclus stuff for a few weeks now- I was directed to your author page from another of your stories, and was DELIGHTED to see you'd written some! Yay.

That said, I love your characterization (spelling?) of both of the heroes- this is beautifully written. I especially liked the little section where you discussed Achilles and how he has been waiting for a war like the Trojan war to come about- very nicely phrased.

Eh, I'm not great at giving constructive reviews- just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading this!

Gah, the last line is so sad when you know what's coming. TT_TT I love the way you portrayed Achilles. And, just, aw.

There are two things that stand out at me, though. First of all, the dialogue seems a little awkward. I don't know. :-/ Secondly, just a small thing, Patroclus says: "I have never yet dishonored myself; yet I would if I remained behind when you and all other brave men go to fight for Greece." This sticks out at me, mostly because it's been drilled into my head that the Homeric Hero does not fight for country or religion or justice. He fights for HONOR alone. The Greeks didn't really have a concept of "fighting for Greece"... after all, they were just a handful of squabbling city-states, they're not terribly patriotic to Greece as a whole. Each hero in the Trojan war fights for himself, for his own honor. Obviously, the honor is more important than... well, even victory. You can see that in the fact that Achilles stops fighting when his prize of honor has been taken away. Screw Greece, he wants his honor back! :o

At least, that's what I think. There's a really great Ian Johnston lecture on it, I really wish I could find the link. D: